World Bank Forecasts Economic Slowdown in the Caucasus and Central Asia

The World Bank is predicting broadly slower growth for the next two years in the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia.  The World Bank forecast published this month, titled Global Economic Prospects, projects Georgia and Azerbaijan to experience the biggest declines in real GDP growth of all Caucasian and Central Asian states.  Georgia, which is grappling with a political crisis precipitated by the government’s sharp geopolitical turn away from the West, is projected to see its annual real GDP growth rate shrink from an estimated…